The War of the Roses was a war between 1455 and 1487 fought by the Lancastrians (Henry III {Not related to Henry VI}) and the Yorks (Henry VI) fighting for the English throne. It was a very interesting war because there were so many powerful people taking over all the time. The reason it was eventually called The War of the Roses is that the symbols of either side was a rose, White for York and red for Lancaster.

Therefore, since Henry VI was the current leader of the Yorks when the war started, it did not start good for the Yorks. The reason being because Henry VI was a poor military leader, why he was a poor leader is because Henry VI had a sort of mental illness that made him think very slow. That cost York with quite a few battles during Henry VI’s rule. Eventually, a man named Richard III got the peoples vote to be the successor of Henry VI. He successfully took over the York throne after Henry VI died in a battle.

After a few years, Richard ended up dying in The Battle of Wakefield by his own men do to some heavy fog and confusion. His successor was his son, Edward VI, Edward went on to march to London and make alliances with The Earl of Warwick, He was welcomed very well and was given great support while there.

Edward eventually claimed that Henry VI was not the true Heir to the throne (and he was not) but Edward decided to challenge Henry III to a battle with no truces, treaties or retreating. The battle was supposed to settle the war and it did. York won and nearly 20,000 men were killed in the process, even to this day it was the bloodiest battle to date that Europe has had.

Edward eventually died in The Battle of Burnet; Richard of Gloucester took his place. Henry III also died and a man named Henry Tudor took over and married Richard of Gloucester’s daughter Elizabeth. This strengthened relations between the Yorks and Lancastrians a lot and there have not been many more problems with them since.

So, now you know all about the war of the roses. It cost both sides a lot in the end. That fact also led up to the poverty of The Hundred Year’s War later on. It also ended up with them losing their supreme rule over Europe and other powers taking over.